Passengers with disabilities sometimes find themselves victims of a penalty that applies to customers who do not get on board quickly enough.
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Uber guilty of discrimination? The US Department of Justice assigned the VTC platform on Wednesday, November 10, in federal court in California, accusing it of not having adapted its service to people with disabilities. The latter sometimes pay more for their shopping, because they cannot get in the car quickly enough.
Since 2016, Uber has implemented a financial penalty imposed on the customer when the driver waits more than two minutes at the meeting point fixed in advance (5 minutes for Uber Black or SUV customers). Gold “many passengers with reduced mobility need more than two minutes to board or load a vehicle, for several reasons”, argues the prosecution. The authorities mention wheelchairs and walkers, “which must be folded up and stowed in the vehicle”.
According to the elements cited by the public prosecutor, Uber has, on a case-by-case basis, reimbursed customers with disabilities who had to pay more for their trip, but the platform has sometimes also refused to take into account requests on this basis. Drivers cannot change the parameters of the trip and prevent customers with reduced mobility from being penalized.
Uber claims to have made a change “last week” in this domain. “From now on, the cost of exceeding (boarding time) will be waived for any passenger who certifies to be disabled”, the group said.